Monday, February 9, 2009

Jmemorize, adaptations and tea

It is full swing biology study now with work and revision taking up my life and this will continue throughout the year into October. Since I don't drink or smoke I have managed to put together a semi-impressive tea collection that includes English breakfast, earl grey, ceylon and gunpowder tea. I get through like five cups per day. I had some English Afternoon tea but it didn’t last too long. If I can get more I will. The mornings are still a little chilly and even though they had bad weather in Ireland and England it wasn't too bad here. Here the spring is short though and the days get better fast although there can be the odd surprise snow.

My study is mostly about how organisms survive the winter, digestion, genetics, reproduction and immune systems. I use Jmemorize to remember things. I highly recommend this system of flash card learning. It really does improve one’s learning capabilities. What a super little simple program it is too.

I played Dead Space, Mass Effect and Half-Life: Source. I watched Deep Space Nine: Season 6 (the best DS9 season so far) and 24 season 2. I also watched David Attenborough's The private life of plants and The Life of Birds. I watched some films like Southland tales, Frost and Nixon Watergate interviews and Sinbad. However the highlight was reading a book called Adaptation and Natural selection by George Williams. It is an excellent book on the scientific criticisms of some forms of evolution, namely group selection, and aims more at selection at the level of the gene. I will read it again someday. I am currently reading Darwin's dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett and Thus spoke Zarathustra by by Friedrich Nietzsche.